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with apples & walnuts

It was finally a beautiful weekend in New York, with plenty of sunshine and reason to be outside for as much as possible, even if it was incredibly windy and still a bit cold. I’m fine with that. I haven’t worn shorts since September, people – September! I am ready. Although I am not ready to be stuffed onto the subway with hundreds of other sweaty people. I guess you can’t have everything. Our friend Danny came to stay with us for a few days last week while he hit the Internet hard on a job hunt, so our weekend got started a bit early on Wednesday night. Danny and I met up with Matt at Daddy’s, where we had a few drinks and I got to have my favorite hot dog (pretzel bun and Meat Hook hot dogs make for the world’s most perfect hot dog, along with plenty of mustard and a pickle). On Thursday night, we went out again with Matt and some of his friends to The Magician for a truly magical happy hour of $3 beers until 9 PM. You can’t beat that! We celebrated our clever financial maneuvering after drinks with soup dumplings at Shanghai Cafe, which is definitely nothing special at first glance, but their xiaolongbao are amazing. They even make them with crab, which Kramer and I couldn’t get enough of, not to mention their tasty beef noodle soup. On Saturday, we slept in, had brunch at Roberta’s, then walked home and I surprisingly did some work on the blog on a Saturday before having drinks with Kramer’s sister Rachel and her fiance Eric and then going to a friend’s birthday party, which we left early because we are all terrible partiers and loud music mixed with cramped quarters and large crowds do not make me feel super comfortable. Although we sucked it up and stayed for a while because, after all, you do that kind of thing for friends on their birthdays (even though I’m sure he would have been just fine without our presence).

On Sunday, we went to Fette Sau for a friend’s going away party before meeting up with Eric and Rachel again for a Mets game. It was our first game of the season and even though it was borderline freezing when you factored in the windchill, the game was great and hey, the Mets even won! We had beers, margaritas, sausage and peppers, and, of course, cracker jacks, so I was quite happy. The sun even peaked out through the clouds for a bit, and the park was a bit more empty than it is during the summer, so we had a pretty good view of the game for the entire time we were there. Kramer and I considered going out afterward, but used our better judgement and came home to watch Saturday Night Live, followed by more of my favorite and yours (I’m sure), chronologically Lost.

Now, while I am incredibly lucky to be able to not only live in a city surrounded by good, wholesome food, but also in the position to be able to purchase it in the first place, I think that it’s important for me to share with you a new project called The Giving Table. The idea behind it is to “to good with food” and to bring attention to the fact that there are people going hungry in the United States every day. I wanted to share a nutritious, easy to make, and relatively inexpensive recipe with you to celebrate the importance of this cause and do what I can to bring notice to hunger in the US, so I bring to you this miso kale salad. You don’t need to know much about cooking to make this dish; in fact, it requires no actual cooking or heat source at all. Just mix together your dressing, pour it over the kale, apples, and walnuts, toss, and enjoy. It’s even vegan if you substitute the honey for agave. Picky eaters may even be tricked by this tasty salad; my husband is not a big fan of kale, but he ate his entire plate of salad and even went as far as to tell me that it was, and I quote, “delicious”. I hope that you’ll give this kale salad a try, but not before letting Congress know that you believe nutrition programs for our nation’s children are incredibly important and can’t be left behind in today’s society. For more information, read this article on Food Bloggers Against Hunger and if you are a food blogger like me, share this project with your readers! Let’s get as much national attention as we can to fight hunger in our country today.

My Crif Dog with sauerkraut and avocado, Kramer hanging out on the roof of the Wythe Hotel, Rachel and Eric at the game on Sunday, and me having a drink for poor Chaaaalie on LOST.

Just whisk together all of your dressing ingredients.

Dice your apple and chop your walnuts.

Then drizzle the dressing over the kale and really squeeze it into the leaves – kale is incredibly sturdy, so really get in there!

A hearty kale salad with apples, walnuts, and a flavorful miso dressing.

Ingredients

For the Miso Dressing:

3 tablespoons light mayonnaise

2 tablespoons dijon mustard

2 tablespoons miso paste

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

For the Kale Salad:

1 bunch kale, cleaned and trimmed

1 apple, diced (skin on or off, it's up to you - I left mine on for color and texture)

½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions

For the Miso Dressing:

Whisk together all of your dressing ingredients, either in a bowl or by shaking them all together in a mason jar. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary, or add more lemon juice or vinegar if the mixture is too thick. Set aside or place in the fridge to use for up to 1 week.

For the Kale Salad:

Clean and dry the kale well, then place it in a large bowl. Pour about half of the dressing over the kale, and use your hands to squeeze the dressing into the leaves. Kale is incredibly sturdy, so really get in there and work the dressing into the greens. Taste and add more dressing, if you like. Sprinkle your diced apples and chopped walnuts over the salad and toss to combine. This salad will keep well, dressed, in the fridge for up to two days (I'll be honest, I ate this for three days in a row, and the leaves wilt a bit more than you'd like by the third day, but it was still tasty)!

This salad looks incredible. Looks so clean too. But how do you like the Fette Sau? I almost went there when I was down in New York a while back for my brothers wedding but didn’t for some odd reason. Next time I go I think I want to go there though. I was too busy with my brothers recommendations for places especially this awesome place in Greenpoint called the Spritzehaus that serves amazing house made artisanal sausages with house made kraut and the works. I was under 18 and still am so my brother had to have a talk with the owner of the place to let me in but I’m glad I got in because it’s pretty amazing in there.

[…] and the writing. I’ve bookmarked so many of her recipes, including these beer braised ribs, miso kale salad, and chocolate chunk cookies. When she started posted short, fun cooking cooking videos, I became […]

Miso dressing, such a great idea! For my tastes I found the dijon taste really overwhelming (but, I don’t exactly love dijon to begin with), so I’d suggest anyone who questions their dijon love to start with 1/2 the amount. Thanks for the recipe!

[…] and the writing. I’ve bookmarked so many of her recipes, including these beer braised ribs, miso kale salad, and chocolate chunk cookies. When she started posted short, fun cooking cooking videos, I became […]

[…] kale from my veg box tossed in a zingy miso dressing (recipe for this adapted from one found on The Crepes of Wrath), long grain brown rice, red quinoa, grated carrot, tomato, pumpkin and sunflower seeds and a […]